ADMIN
T
RAINING
M
ANUAL
AIMS Learning Management System
SPECTRUM CONNECT - LMS
AIMS
Connect LMS
Ahmed College of Pharmacy (Pvt) Ltd.
Head office: Main GT Road near Green Town Kangani Wala over Head Bridge Adjacent Global College, Gujranwala
Table of Contents
What is Learning Management System? ...6
Uploading and sharing materials: ...6
Forums and chats: ...6
Why Should You Use a LMS? ...6
Student demand ...7
Student schedules ...7
Better courses ...7
1. Getting Started ...7
Login to Learning Management System ...8
2. Dashboard ...9 Global Navigation ………..10 Dashboard ………10 View Profile ………10 Edit Profile ………11 Grades ………13 Preferences ………..14 Calendar ……….16
Switch role to… ………..17
Log out ………18
Messages and Notification ……….18
Main Menu ………20 Home ………20 Dashboard ………21 Events ……….21 22 My Courses ………22 Hide/Show Blocks ………...22
Standard View/Full Screen ………..22
Side Menu Blocks ……….23
Navigation ...23 Others ...23 3. Course Administration ...23 Edit Settings ...23 Turn Editing on ...23 Course Completion ...24 Users ...24 Gradebook Setup ...24 Backup ...24 Restore ...24 Import ...24 Reset ...24 Question Bank ...24 4. Edit Settings ...25 5. Grades ...26
Manage General Settings ...26
Manage category Settings ...27
Manage Grade item Settings ...27
Manage Scales ...29
Manage Letters ...30
Export gradebook/Grades...31
Import gradebook/Grades ...32
Question Bank ...32
Import Question Bank ...33
Export Question Bank ...33
6. Users ...34
Accounts ...34
Browse List of User ...34
Bulk User Actions ...34
Add a New User ...36
User Default Preferences ...36
Upload Users ...38
Upload User Pictures ...40
7. Courses ...41
Manage Courses and Categories ...41
Create a New Category ...43
What is Learning Management System?
LMSs are web applications, meaning that they run on a server and are accessed by using a web browser. Your Spectrum LMS server is probably located in your university or department, but it can be anywhere in the world. You and your students can access the system from any place with an Internet connection.
At their most basic, LMS give educators tools to create a course web site and provide access control so only enrolled students can view it. LMSs also offer a wide variety of tools that can make your course more effective. They provide an easy way to upload and share materials, hold online discussions and chats, give quizzes and surveys, gather and review assignments, and record grades. Let‘s take a quick look at each of these features and how they might be useful:
Uploading and sharing materials:
Most LMSs provide tools to easily publish content. Instead of using an HTML editor and then sending your documents to a server via FTP, you simply use a web form to store your syllabus on the server. Many instructors upload their syllabus, lecture notes, reading assignments, and articles for students to access whenever they want.
Forums and chats:
Online forums and chats provide a means of communication outside of classroom meetings. Forums give your students more time to generate their responses and can lead to more thoughtful discussions. Chats, on the other hand, give you a way to quickly and easily communicate with remote students. They can be used for project discussions between groups of students or for last-minute questions the day before an exam.
Why Should You Use an LMS?
We‘ve run classes for thousands of years without the use of computers and the Web. ―Chalk and talk are still the predominant method of delivering instruction. While traditional face-to-face meetings can still be effective, applying the tools listed above opens up new possibilities for learning that weren‘t possible twenty years ago. Currently, there is a lot of research into how to effectively combine online learning and face-to-face meetings in what are called ―hybrid courses or ―blended learning.
Hybrid courses combine the best of both worlds. Imagine moving most of your content delivery to an online environment and saving your course time for discussion, questions, and problem solving. Many instructors have found they can save time and increase student learning by allowing students to engage in the material outside of class. This allows them to use face-to-face time for troubleshooting.
Online discussions give many students the opportunity to express themselves in ways they couldn‘t in a regular class. Many students are reluctant to speak in class because of shyness, uncertainty, or language issues. It‘s a boon to many students to have the ability to take their time to compose questions and answers in an online discussion, and instructors report much higher participation levels online than in class.
There are several other reasons to think about using an LMS in your courses:
Student demand
Students are becoming more technically savvy, and they want to get many of their course materials off the Web. Once online, they can access the latest information at any time and make as many copies of the materials as they need. Having grown up with instant messaging and other Internet communication tools, many students find that online communication is second nature.
Student schedules
With rising tuition, many students are working more hours to make ends meet while they are in school. About half of all students now work at least 20 hours a week to meet school expenses. With an LMS, they can communicate with the instructor or their peers whenever their schedules permit. They can also take quizzes or read course material during their lunch breaks. Working students need flexible access to courses, and a LMS is a powerful way to give them what they need.
Better courses
If used well, LMSs can make your classes more effective and efficient. By moving some parts of your course online, you can more effectively take advantage of scheduled face-to-face time to engage students‘ questions and ideas. For example, if you move your content delivery from an in-class lecture to an online document, you can then use lecture time to ask students about what they didn‘t understand. If you also use an online forum, you can bring the best ideas and questions from the forum into your classroom. We‘ll discuss lots of strategies and case studies for effective practice throughout the book.
1. Getting Started
Spectrum LMS is a web-based tool you can access through a web browser. This means that in order to use Spectrum LMS, you need a computer with a web browser installed and an Internet connection. You also need to have the web address (called a Uniform Resource Locator, or URL) of a server running Spectrum LMS.
Login to Learning Management System
You must already have a Spectrum LMS account created to be able to log-in. Please contact your Spectrum LMS Administrator to get a Spectrum LMS account. Log in using your login and password provided by the administrator by following steps.
The URL (www.aimslms.eduserv.com.au) provided by the administrator redirects you to the login page.
1. Navigate to the Login Form provided.
2. Type Username and password in the respective fields. 3. Click on the Login.
2. Dashboard
Dashboard (formerly known as 'My home') is a customizable page for providing users with links to their courses and activities within them, such as unread forum posts and upcoming assignments.
• Dashboard usually has the Course overview block in the central column. Depending on the site settings for this block, categories and child courses may display under the main courses. For information about the appearance of this block within the Dashboard.
• On the Dashboard, the courses in the Navigation block are expanded by default (as in the screenshot below) whereas they are collapsed by default elsewhere in Spectrum LMS.
• Users can customize their Dashboard and add and remove blocks by clicking the 'Customize this page' button in the screenshot below:
Global Navigation
From Navigation Menu user can access Dashboard, view profile, Edit Profile, Grades, Preferences, Calendar, Role Switching and Log out Option.
Dashboard
Quick access to Dashboard is also available from the user menu top right of the screen once logged in:
View Profile
Every user in Spectrum LMS has a Profile page which may be reached from the user menu top right and then clicking Profile. This page contains links to further pages allowing the user to edit their profile information and preferences, view their forum/blog posts, and check any reports they have access to.
Edit Profile
Individual users can edit their profiles by clicking the Edit profile link accessed from the Profile page in the user menu (top right).
Administrators can update user profiles via Administration > Users > Accounts > Add a new user or Browse list of users or by clicking the profile of a user and clicking the Edit profile link in the User details section.
The fields are divided into 6 sections - General, Preferences, User picture, Additional names and Optional which are all explained below.
Remember to click 'Update profile' when you have finished.
GENERAL
• This section is expanded by default. First name, Surname and Email address are compulsory fields. Depending on your administrator's settings you may or may not be able to edit these.
• The other settings - City/Town, Country, Time zone and Description are optional. The administrator might already have entered your city and country when your account was created.
• The Time zone field is used to convert time-related messages on the system (such as assignment deadlines) from the local time zone (the time in London) to the correct time in whichever zone you have selected.
USER PICTURE
This section is optional and allows you to choose your own profile picture. Your current picture is shown, if you have already chosen one.
Note: If the admin has enabled it in Administration > Site Administration > Users > Permissions > User policies, an avatar you might have attached to your email account will appear as your profile image if you don't upload a different one. New picture
The "Choose a file" button allows you to choose a new picture for your profile. The picture must be in JPG or PNG format ( i.e. the names will usually end in .jpg or .png). To upload an image, click the "Upload a file" button from the list in the File picker, and select the image from your hard disk.
NOTE: Make sure that the file is not larger than the maximum size listed, or it will notbe uploaded.
Then click "Update Profile" at the bottom - the image file will be cropped to a square and resized down to 100x100 pixels.
When you are taken back to your profile page, the image might not appear to have changed. If this is so, just using the "Reload" button in your browser.
ADDITIONAL NAMES
If the administrator has activated this feature, then you will be able to set your alternative or additional names here.
INTERESTS
Use tags here to display your interests on your profile page. OPTIONAL
There are several optional fields allowing you to add further details to your profile such as contact details and your website.
CUSTOM PROFILE CATEGORIES
If any custom user profile categories and fields have been created on your Spectrum LMS site, they will be listed at the bottom of the Admin >Accounts>User profile fields
UPDATING A USER PROFILE
Users with the capabilities can update another user's profile i.e. in addition to being able to edit the profile, other settings such as password, authentication method and force new password may be changed. The username cannot be changed if it has been set by an authentication plugin, such as LDAP.
ACCOUNT DISABLING
An account may be disabled by setting the authentication method to "No login". The account email may not be used to create another account.
Grades
You can see the grades of courses he is taking or teaching. you can also manage course grades as well in which you are teaching.
By Clicking on the courses, you are teaching you will get the following grades list of students.
Preferences
The Preferences page gives users quick access to various settings they might wish to edit. It can be accessed directly from the user menu in the top, right corner of Spectrum LMS.
If the theme being used does not include a user menu (which pops up when you click your name in the top, right corner of Spectrum LMS), users will need to go to their Profile page by clicking their name, click 'Edit profile' and then use the breadcrumb trail to go back to the 'preferences' page.
The preferences of another user may be accessed from a link on their Profile page, for those who have access to it.
CHANGE PASSWORD
You can change the password of your own choice by following steps: 1. Click on Preference from the global navigation menu.
3. Provide the necessary details (Current password, New Password, New password (again)).
4. Click on Save Changes.
Calendar
Calendar is used to get the dates of upcoming and ongoing events according to your course.
Switch role to…
The switch roles feature allows a user to switch temporarily to another role from the user menu 'Switch role' so that they can see what the course would look like to someone with that role.
Log out
If a user wants to logout go to the global navigation menu. Click on Log out and you will be redirected to the login page.
Messages and Notification
User can send and view messages as well as notifications from the Options provided in upper menu.
MESSAGES
1. User can send or create a new message to other users by clicking on New message link.
2. Search for the contact and start messaging.
NOTIFICATIONS
• Notifications alert teachers, students and other users about events in Spectrum LMS such as new forum posts, assignments needing grading or badges awarded.
• New notifications are highlighted with a number in the notification’s menu at the top of the screen:
Main Menu
User can navigate to Home, Dashboard, Events and also access to the Courses and This Course option. My Courses will show the courses in which user is registered as a Teacher, whereas This Course option provides activities and resources about a course. Turn editing on option is used to Edit the page and page activities according to desire. Hide Blocks option is used to hide the Blocks including Navigation, Private files, Administration and others.
User can toggle between standard and full screen view.
Home
Home or front page contains site announcements and list of courses. User will get the list of only those courses in which he//she is registered.
User can go into the course by clicking the ‘Course’ button below each the course.
Dashboard
Dashboard is the page shown after logged in it is the page from where you can get news and announcements of your course (example: due assignments or quizzes) in the course overview area. You can also access your registered courses from dashboard.
Events
Events are atomic pieces of information describing something that happened in Spectrum LMS.
ADD NEW EVENT
You can add new Event to the calendar by clicking the ‘new Event’ button on the right corner of the Calendar.
Provide the above given details and Click o Save Button. Your Event will be created and displayed on the calendar against the provided date.
My Courses
My Courses menu shows all the registered courses in a dropdown you can access the course from here also by clicking the desired course.
Hide/Show Blocks
User can show or hide the side blocks by clicking the Hide Blocks option.
Standard View/Full Screen
User can toggle between standard or Full Screen View By Clicking the ‘Standard View’ Button
Side Menu Blocks
Side Menu Blocks are used to get quick access to the settings and other useful options provided.
Private files
User can manage private files using this option. These files can be used further.
Navigation
User can quickly navigate to the option like Home, Site Pages and Courses option.
Others
User can manage or customize these blocks From the Turn Editing on option. User can
Add the blocks of his/her own choice.
3. Course Administration
User can manage or customize the course using course Administration option it provides all the Settings Related to the course.
Edit Settings
User can Edit the course general and other settings using this option.
Turn Editing on
User can edit the Topics, Activities, Quiz Assignments files and resources of a course.
Course Completion
User can manage the activity or course completion settings. Manual course completion is also managed using this option.
Users
Teacher can manage User enrollments, permissions and groups options.
Gradebook Setup
Admin can manage gradebook Settings, letters, Scales and other related Settings.
Backup
Teacher can manage backups using this option.
Restore
Teachers can restore the backups in case of any Data loss.
Import
Teacher can import data from its other courses To save its time and effort in creating a course.
Reset
Teacher can reset the course settings to default Using this option.
Question Bank
Teacher can upload the all questions at once in different Formats instead of creating a question one by one.
4. Edit Settings
User can edit the settings of a course using the following steps: 1. Click on Edit Settings Option from Administration Block.
2. Provide the necessary details. 3. Click Save and display.
5. Grades
User can change the grade settings by: 1. Click on Grades.
Manage category Settings
To manage a category:
Click on manage category settings.
1. Provide the necessary details. 2. Click Save changes.
Manage Grade item Settings
To add a grade item:
1. Click on Manage grade item Settings.
User can view: • Grader report
• grade history
• overview
• User can also setup gradebook, preferences and course grade settings.
• User can manage scales, letters, and also can import and export gradebook.
Manage Scales
ADD A NEW SCALE
Provide the name, Scale and description of a scale to be added, click save changes.
Manage Letters
User can View Grade Letters and can also add or edit the grade letters.
After Edit or Adding a new Grade Letter click on Save Changes option.
Export gradebook/Grades
To export a gradebook. 1. Click on Export.
2. Provide the necessary details (like grade items to be included and export formats).
Import gradebook/Grades
To import a gradebook: 1. Click on import.
2. Provide the necessary details. 3. Click on upload grades.
User can import the file in CSV, spreadsheet and XML format.
Question Bank
To add a Question Bank.
1. Click on Question bank in Administration Block.
Import Question Bank
To Import question bank.
1. Click on import under the Question Bank option.
2. Provide the necessary details. 3. Click on import.
Export Question Bank
To Import question bank. 1. Click on Export.
2. Provide necessary details. 3. Click on Export question
6. Users
Admin can manage accounts, permissions and privacy & policy for users using this option in the Administration Block.
Accounts
In Accounts Option Admin Can Browse list of user, perform Bulk user actions, add a new user, set preferences, manage profile fields, manage cohorts, upload users, and upload user pictures.
Browse List of User
Admin can browse list of users, can search a user’s using filters. Admin can also edit, Delete, hide user as well.
Bulk User Actions
Admin can add available users to selected users list by: Selecting the one or multiple users
Click on Add to Selection
Admin can also remove user from selection, add all, and remove all. With the selected users Admin can perform the options as shown in the Figure below.
DOWNLOAD
Choose a File format for the downloading and click on Download.
Add a New User
Admin can add a new user to the list using the Add new user option from the Accounts.
1. Click on Add new User Option. 2. Provide the necessary details
3. Then click create user.
User Default Preferences
Admin can set users default preferences from the Accounts option. 1. Click on User Default Preferences option in Administration Block.
2. Provide the details accordingly. 3. Click on Save Changes.
Cohorts
Admin can manage Cohorts (Groups) using Cohorts option from Administration Block.
1. Click on Cohorts option in Administration Block.
System Cohorts shows the list of Cohorts which are under the system Category, whereas All cohorts consist of cohorts with all contexts, to add the new Cohort:
3. Provide the necessary details. 4. Click on Save Changes.
Admin can also upload the cohorts using Upload Cohorts option, to upload a cohort:
1. Click on Upload Cohorts. 2. Provide the necessary details. 3. Click Preview.
4. Click Save Changes.
Upload Users
Admin can upload the users by selecting Users option from Administration Block. 1. Click on upload users.
2. Provide the necessary details.
CHOOSE A FILE
To choose a file:
Click on the ‘Choose a file’ Option or simply drag and drop file in the dotted area.
You can upload a file from Server files, recent files upload from local pc, URL downloader, private files, Wikimedia.
To upload a file from local pc: Click on Choose File Option.
Select the file from the local folder, provide the save as Information and click upload this File.
3. Click upload users.
4. List of users uploaded are shown. 5. Click upload user.
Upload User Pictures
Admin can upload the user’s pictures by selecting Upload User Pictures option from Administration Block.
1. Click on upload user pictures. 2. Provide the necessary details. 3. Click upload user pictures.
CHOOSE A FILE
To Choose a file:
Click on the ‘Choose a file’ Option or simply drag and drop file in the dotted area.
You can upload a file from Server files, recent files upload from local pc, URL downloader, private files, Wikimedia.
To upload a file from local pc: Click on Choose File Option.
Select the file from the local folder, provide the save as Information and click upload this File.
7. Courses
Admin can manage courses and categories, add new category, restore course, course default settings, course request, backups and upload courses for users using Courses option in the Administration Block.
Manage Courses and Categories
To manage courses and categories:
• Click on Manage course and categories option in Courses option in Administration Block.
User can manage the Course Categories under the course categories option.
• Click on settings option provides the following shown options. User can edit, delete, sort assign roles and permissions and other options.
• User can hide the category using the hide option provided in front of a category.
• User can move a category up and down using the up and down arrow keys provided in front of a category.
Create a New Category
Admin can add a new category by:
1. Click on Create New Category option.
2. Provide the necessary details. 3. Click on Create category option.
Create a New Course
Admin can create a new course by:
1. Click on Create New Course option.
